NOVA Celebrates Black History (Heritage) Month With Quilt Maker Sharon Tindall

Black History (Heritage) Month is coming to an end for February; but celebrating, spotlighting and learning about African American accomplishments and contributions isn’t. Officially established in 1976 as an awareness week by President Gerald Ford, Negro History Week was intended to recognize and honor the “too-often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans throughout our history.”

NOVA’s own Black History Quilt Maker/Textile Artist Sharon Tindall received her professional training from Montclair State University in New Jersey. An avid quilter with an interest in African American history, Tindall was interviewed for Underground Railroad Quilt Codes for the Smithsonian’s Folklife Magazine, May 3, 2019.

Now executive assistant to Annandale Provost Diane Mucci, Tindall says, “I’ve worked at NOVA for 26 years, and my oldest son started at NOVA. I’ve been quilting for 30 years, and I quilt every single day. I am owner of Quilts by Sharon and outgoing President of Quilters Unlimited – Centerville Chapter.”

Sharon has spent years researching quilt patterns and patterns used to guide the enslaved to freedom! She says that Underground Railroad Quilt Codes offer many teachable moments and opportunities for curriculum integration, including in math, science, history and sacred geometry (ascribing symbolic or sacred meaning to geometric forms) within the quilt-making process.

In 2013, Tindall was awarded a grant to investigate the use of quilt codes of the Underground Railroad and her research led her to Liberia, West Africa where she studied patterns and coded messages in fabric, patterns reflected in a few of her quilt creations.

During Covid, Sharon was able to purchase a long-arm quilting machine for her basement studio. Enabling her to make exceptionally large quilts. She has a highly creative student/apprentice she works with on Tuesdays, passing the world of quilting on to the next generation.

Tindall will speak and have several quilts on display at Darnall Chance House Museum for Black History Month. Also, take time to stop by the Annandale Campus Provost’s office to view her two quilts on display…(1) Freedom Bookshelf and (2) Jazz at Sunset.

Submitted by:
Dr. Mia Webb Harper, Assoc. Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, MHarper@nvcc.edu